There were six chambers in the Courtyard, three in the north and three in the south. Those in the south: the Salt Chamber, the Parvah Chamber, the Rinsing Chamber. The Salt Chamber: there they put salt for the offering[s]. The Parvah Chamber: there they salted hides of kodashim [-offerings], and on its roof was a mikveh for the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. The Rinsing Chamber: there they would rinse [the] innards of the kodashim [-offerings]. And from there a spiral staircase ascended to the roof of the Parvah Chamber.

Those in the north: the Wood Chamber, the Diaspora Chamber, the Chamber of Hewn Stone. [Regarding] the Wood Chamber, R’ Eliezer ben Yaakov said: I forgot what purpose it served. Abba Shaul says: [It was] the Kohen Gadol’s chamber; and it was behind the other two [chambers], and the roofs of all three [chambers] were the same height. The Diaspora Chamber: There a well was located; and a wheel was placed over [the well], and from there [drinking] water would be supplied to all the [people in the] Courtyard. The Chamber of Hewn Stone: there the Great Sanhedrin of Israel would sit and judge the priesthood. A Kohen in whom a disqualification was found would clothe himself in black and wrap his head in black, and would leave [the chamber] and go. [A Kohen] in whom no disqualification was found would clothe himself in white and wrap his head in white; he would enter [the Courtyard] and serve with his brethren the Kohanim. They would make a day of celebration [to thank God] that no disqualification was found in the descendants of Aaron the Kohen. And thus they would proclaim: “Blessed is the Omnipresent, Blessed is He, for no disqualification was found in the descendants of Aaron. And Blessed is He Who chose Aaron and his sons to stand and serve before God in the chamber of the Holy of Holies.”